Brooder



Aug. 20, 1935.

H. F. RAU- BROODER Filed May 26, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 l7 gwuento'a Aug.20, 1935. RAU a 2,012,088

BROODER Filed May 26, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I ,gwvanloo Fig 6. Hemp,ROLL Pate iied Au 20, 1935 j 1- NI D S ES *..-P"ATE FF E- I Mim BROQDERI p I Henry F. Rau, TacoinmWaSh. v Application May 26, msas'eiiai N0.: 727,75 2f Uri My invention-'relates'to devices for protecting chicksandother young fowl during their. first growth, commonly knownasbrooders. and has special reference to such'devices asare adapted 1 touse electricity and. are intended town for large broods, say 1000chicks. My invention has forhits-obje'cts to provid means, .fir st',whereby. thechicks are constantly provided with plenty of clean; fresh;warm air;- second; whereby said air; is drawn-into the brood er at thetop thereof; third, whereby the supply a of fresh. air is evenlydistributedover the topof the brooder and flows evenly-to all parts ofthe floor thereof; fourth, whereby the supply of '3 fresh air isimmediatelyshut ofi 'andthe warmth retained in the brooderif the flow ofelectric .energyshould be interrupted fifth, whereby, in case of suchinterruptionof electric service, an alarm bell is automatically sounded;whereby the top of the brooder chamber is well heat-insulated, therebypreventing the escape or waste of heat through the top; seventh,topermit the ready removal of the. brooder curtains for the purpose ofvcleaning or other purposes; Q

and eighth, to provide a brooder of great efficiencyinheating and ofpronounced succe'ssin rearing young chicks, which is automatic andsimple in operation.

I attain these and other objects by the. devices;

mechanisms, and arrangements illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, inwhich in dottedlines the positions assumed thereby when the ventilatingmotor'isnot in operation:

s and Fig. Gis'a bottom plan View ofthe ceiling of "the brooder, showingthe arrangement of the heating wires and control apparatus.

Sinnlar'numerals of' reference refer to similar parts throughout theseveral views.

Referring; now, to the drawings, the brooder comprisesa brooderchamber 1formed of four walls 2, mounted on legs 3, and adapted to'be placed onthe floor of the chicken building, said j wallsextending downward fromthe ceiling about one-half way to the ground. Each wall 2 is provided,on its outer lower edge, with a metal U -shaped. channel 4 (Fig. 2). Aninverted 1U- 4 'Claims. (01.119-3 3) V p} p shaped channel 5 fits'iinand hangs freel yf rorn the. said channel i, and: is provided with thebrooder. curtain 18," securely attached thereto;

This curtain 5 is made of fabric and hangs'from the walls 'z downwar'dto a point about one inch a'bovethe groundl ."Each curtain 6 istherefore readily jremovable from thebrooder' by simply lifting'thechan'nel Biout of the channel 4. The

ceiling of the-brooder-is comprised of an upper.

sheet 1 of three-ply veneer wood (Figs. 2 and 3)" having. a sheet offelt 8 glued, or otherwise fas tened, to its lower surface, said sheet!being se- .cured to a'suitable frame 9 which separatesrit from the lowersheet liiof'the ceiling; This sheet I0 is formed of a suitableheat-insulating 1 material, such as a compound fiber board or othersimilar fibrous material, securedtothe lower side of the frame9.The'space between the parts 1 and I0 forms a substantially closed airchamber which further acts as a heat insulator. The upper part of thebrooder comprises a removable shet-metal'roof II, fitting on the upperedge of the wall 2 (Fig. 2). The roof I I is provided with suitable airinlet holes 12 (Fig. 1)

Atthe center of the ceiling I mount my ventilatingv apparatus. Avertical tube l3 penetrates the ceiling of the brooder chamber I (Fig.3) and :is provided with a small electric motor l4, suit ably suspendedtherein, said motor l4 being provided with suitable fan bladeslS at thelower end ofits-shaft. The direction of rotation is such as to causethefan to drive the air downward in the tube is- The lower mouth of thetube I3 is substa-ntially flush with the lower surface of the fibersheet 10.

A deflector plate It is hung-centrally under the opening of the tube l3,This plate lfi is dished and is substantially. larger in diameter thanthe tube l3. The maximum distance of the rim llof the dish I6, from-thesheet I0, is governedby a pluralityof screw hooks 18 extending downwardfrom said fiber board wand passing under the rim l1. .Said hooks I8 maybe adjust- I ed; by screwing them further in or out of the 4,5,

board'l fl. I I

The platelB is hung by a link I9, engaging its centerQfrom the end of alever 20. "This lever Y 20 is pivoted at 2ljito a pair of brackets 22,ex

tending inward iiro'r'n" the tube I 3, and passes through a hole 23 inthe tube [3, and lies in a slot 24 in the sheet"!!! and then bent downofsuch size and is positioned so that it'overbalward and-provided with acounterbalance weight I 25, adjustably secured thereon. The weight'25 isances the weight of the plate I6 at the other end of the lever 20.

A pair of contact strips 26 and 21 are mounted on the lower side of thesheet Hi, on each side of the slot 24, and are positioned so that theycross each other at slightly different levels at a point directly underthe leverEG (Figs..4 and and are adapted to be pressed together to makeelectric contact with each other when the weight 25 raises the plate l5.Electric .wires 2%) connect the two said strips 26 and Zl to abattery 29and an electric alarm bell 33, which is therefore sounded when the plateis is raised.-

The brooder is heated by means of suitable high-resistance wires inwhich a suitable current is flowing. Referring to Fig. 6, it will. beseen.

that the plug ii is adapted to beconnected to a suitable source ofelectric energy, not shown.

One wire 32 leads from this plug 35 to a junction,

33, and a connecting wire 35 leads therefrom to the smallerheatingcircuit 35- (say 100 watt) in which a pilot light 3G maybeconnected, and thus to the junction 31 and thewire 38pto the junction 35and the other wireds; of the plug 35;

This smaller heating circuit is arranged to be constantly energized. fThe larger-heating circuit '(say iiiilljwatts) leads from thejunction33, by

the wire 4 through thepilo-t light 32 tothe terminal is of thethermostat so. The other terminal 55501 the 'thermostatf-is-connected tothe wire i5 which leads to-the junction 41 with the heating wire 8. Thecurrent splits at the junction, 47 and passes throughboth circuits 48 inparallel, to the junction 49 and thence bythe wireEi] to the junction3?, and so back to the forcing it down against the plate It. This flow Iof air forcesthe plate it down, raising the weight 25 and breaking thecontact of thestrips 25 and ill of the alarm circuit. The air escapesover the rim ii of the plate and flows horizontally to the small heatingcircuit 35 and then the larger heating circuit it. .The air is warmedthereby and passes down to the fioor and out under the curtains t, asindicated by. the fiow arrows in Figs. 2 and 3. I

The heat is practically all sent downward to the chicks but the airspace between the sheets 8 and iii becomes gradually warmed. If, now,the electric current is inadvertentlyshutoif, the chicks will not sufferbecause, first, the motor i4 stops, allowing the weight 25 to raise theplate;

l6 up against the surface of the sheet ii), thus effectively closing thetube is and preventing theescape of heat thereby and, second, the heatre-' tained by the ceiling construction is suificient'to give enoughwarmth for the'chicks fora considerable period. Meantimaas theplate I6is raised,

the alarm bell 30 is sounded warning the operator to take steps tocorrect the fault or arrange for emergency heat.

1 The electric heating wires are adapted to heat the brooder principallyby heating the flow offrom the brooder chamber above the curtain 6;

It is, of course, understood that many changes ma-y be made in thedetails of construction of pended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

1. A brooder comprising a brooding chamber havingwalls and a ceiling; anopening in the ceiling thereof; a downward-acting fan in said opening; adraft deflector mounted below said opening and adapted to throw thedraft laterally on the underside of the ceiling and counterbalancingmeans engaging said draft deflector, said counter-balancing means beingadapted to raise said draft deflector against the ceiling to close said"opening in the ceiling-when said fan is inoperative.

2. A brooder comprising a brooding chamber having walls and aceiling; anopening in the ceiling thereof; a downward-acting fan in said opening;adraft deflector mounted below said opening and adapted to throw thedraft laterally on the underside of the ceiling; counterbalancing meansengaging said draft deflector and adapted tov raise said draft deflectorto close the opening in the ceiling when the fan is inoperative; and anelectric alarm circuit operated by said counterbalancing'means andadapted to sound 'an alarm when said draft deflector is thus raised.

3. A broader havingiwalls raised from the floor of the brooder chamber;a ceiling composed of two separated sheets with confined air-space theupward escape of warm airfroni the breeder chamber when saiddraft-forcing means is inoperative, whereby the cooling of said brooder'chamber ismaterially delayed. Y r

4. A' brooder'as set forth in claim-3, wherein said electric heatingsystem and said draft-forcing means are adapted to be connected to thesame source of electricity; together with an independently energizedalarm-sounding meanscontrolled by; said check valve, and adapted tosound an alarm when the orifice of said tube has beenclosed thereby.

' HENRY F.-RAU.

